TEMP CLAIMED £5,000 FOR WORK HE'D NEVER DONE

A TEMPORARY worker who went on claiming wages for 16 weeks after losing his job has been jailed.

Single dad Colin Charles, 24, pocketed nearly £5,000 of wages after losing his helpdesk job at Prudential, a court heard.

Prudential told his temp company Hayes Accountancy they no longer wanted him in July 2002 but Charles continued to submit his time sheets until an audit in November that year revealed his supervisor had not signed them off.

By that time Charles, of Cranbourne Gardens in Tilehurst, had bagged £4,767. He admitted the theft at Reading Magistrates' Court in November last year. But the offence also meant he'd breached a suspended nine month sentence for grievous bodily harm that had been imposed in July 2002.

That sentence, which had been suspended for two years, was slapped on former Reading Sunday League footballer Charles after racist jibes provoked him into attacking a rival player

during an incident in December 2001.

He faced sentencing for the theft and breach of a suspended sentence at Reading Crown Court on Monday.

Kim Preston, prosecuting, said: "Charles would be paid at the end of his employment by signing a time sheet which is confirmed by his supervisor and which is then sent to the payroll department of his temping agency, Hayes Accountancy.

"But Charles became unreliable and Prudential informed Hayes they no longer wanted him and

his contract with Hayes ended on July 12.

"During an audit in November 2002, it was found Charles had still been sending in timesheets, none of those signed by his supervisor, and getting payment from Hayes.

"From July 12 to November 21, Charles was paid £4,767."

Charles was arrested in June 2003 and during police interview admitted he had been stealing from Hayes.

But Hugh Forgan, defending, said the theft arose in "extreme circumstances" following the

football attack case.

"That summer matters got on top of him, he was getting depressed and worried about the assault case and break-up with the mother of his four-and-a-half-year-old son George," he said.

"And he was deeper and deeper in financial trouble."

He added: "Charles behaved stupidly and dishonestly and approached it with startling naivety. As soon as it came to light his response was that he would pay the money back akin to a credit card debt."

Judge Susan Matthews said it was a cynical theft that breached a position of trust and that Charles "consciously and deliberately defrauded" his employer.

But she said she found helpful the character references from Charles' mum and Reading West MP Martin Salter explaining his background and how the football matter affected Charles.

She sentenced him to nine months for the theft charge and activated the suspended sentence, but ordered it to be served concurrently as the offence was committed in unusual